Good Friends
by KateToast
Summary: Rachel tells Ross that she and Joey are no longer together after TOW Ross' Tan. Ross POV. One shot.


**Disclaimer**: I wish Friends was mine... but alas, it is not.

**A/N**: Wicked random, short one-shot I wrote in about twenty minutes because I didn't like that we never got the scene where Rachel tells Ross that she and Joey are no longer together. Takes place after _TOW Ross' Tan_ (except I'm ignoring the tan joke all together).

**Good Friends**

**XXX**

Ross stopped in front of the green door labeled apartment nineteen. He placed Emma's carrier on the floor beside him, and shifted her baby bag that he had strapped around one shoulder. Glancing back at apartment twenty, Ross considered very seriously just visiting Monica and Chandler instead, and letting Rachel come and find _him_ to take their daughter.

He had insisted he was fine over and over again until it got to the point where he actually began to believe it himself, but after he'd given his blessing to Joey and his friend had left, he'd realized (as he was treating the burn wounds on both his hands) that he still wasn't _fine_ with the situation at all. But how could he explain it to anyone? He had a girlfriend; and Charlie was so great, and everyone liked her. _He_ liked her.

It had been six years. How could he admit (without actually admitting) that he hadn't moved on yet?

God, while he had been busy trying to fix his too-tanned self, Joey and Rachel had had their first date. Had it gone well? Had they slept together? Were they already picking out china patterns? Had they booked a minister yet? Were they looking through a big book of names for ideas for future children? Had Rachel already forgotten the existence of her almost-one-year-old daughter?

Ross did _not_ want to enter the apartment to find them making out on the couch. Hell, making out _anywhere_. Once was bad enough.

He scuffed his shoe against the ground between he and the door for a few minutes, bracing himself. As he was about to knock on the door (when had he _ever_ knocked on this door!), however, it opened and he stumbled inside, and right into Rachel.

"Oh, geez, Ross! You scared the living daylights outta me! I thought someone was outside getting ready to break in!" Rachel shouted, holding a hand up to her heart and breathing heavily.

"Sorry," Ross apologized, trying to quickly take in her appearance. Hm, her clothes were on perfectly straight, nothing was inside-out, the apartment didn't look like it had been attacked by a whirlwind, her hair was resting below her shoulders, and she was holding a magazine rolled up. "Uh, were you gonna attack me with that thing?" he asked.

Rachel glanced at the magazine, and unrolled it quickly. "Uh, no," she stammered. "I was uh, reading."

"Right," Ross nodded. He scanned the apartment again after he had retrieved Emma from the hallway. "So, uh, where's Joey?" he questioned as casually as possible as he handed the baby over to her mother.

"Oh, he was shooting a scene today," Rachel replied absently as she cooed over Emma.

Ross inwardly cringed. Damnit, that was another thing Joey had that he didn't: a cool job that people, especially Rachel, liked. Well, _Ross_ thought his job was cool, but no one else except Charlie seemed to agree.

Why wouldn't a woman want a guy who's good-looking, suave, charming, and an actor on a soap opera?

Ross realized that he was standing awkwardly in the kitchen, staring into space, and that Rachel had moved over to the playpen by her bedroom door (where she and Joey may or may not have had sex in last night; that was another thing, in who's bedroom did they do it in? Did they trade off?) with Emma.

_You're sounding weird, even to yourself, man_, Ross thought to himself, willing his mind off the topic of Rachel and Joey having sex. Instead, he joined Rachel by the playpen and reached down to let Emma grab onto one of his fingers.

He cleared his throat. "Uh, how was the uh, date?" _Smooth, Geller, your voice cracked right in the middle of that sentence_.

Rachel stiffened at his question and retreated back to the kitchen. "Oh, um… not so well, actually," she said as she leaned into the refrigerator to get a drink.

Trying to hide his sudden glee at her words, he asked, "Oh? What uh, happened?"

Standing straight again and approaching the counter, Rachel's face was the picture of confusion. She set her soda down onto the surface, and Ross stood on the opposite side, watching her intently.

"I'm not really… sure, actually," she confided. "We uh… well… geez, it's kinda weird to talk about this sort of thing with you of all people," she laughed falsely.

Ross nodded and forced a grin, letting his hand rest just in front of her own on the counter. He didn't dare move it any closer at the moment. God, he had a girlfriend, why was he thinking about this?

"C'mon, we're still friends first," he insisted, really meaning it.

Rachel stopped her fiddling with a pen and just peered into Ross's face for a moment. "Yeah, uh, ironically, that's exactly why Joey and I decided not to be together."

Ross blinked a few times. "What?"

"It's sort of a long story," Rachel said slowly, and Ross could tell she was lying. What was she hiding from him? "But basically, we both realized that it was just too weird. Because we're too good of friends. We didn't even… you know."

Ross knew what she meant. "Wow," he said. "Uh… I was not expecting that." He kept watching the top of her head, her face hidden by her dark golden hair as she leaned on the counter and looked downward.

"Honestly? Me either," Rachel told him.

"Are you… okay?" he asked, not sure what to say. On one hand, he was thrilled by this news. He no longer had to pretend to be fine with his ex-girlfriend/ex-wife/mother-of-his-child dating one of his best friends who was like a brother to him. On the other hand, he knew how it felt to have a relationship so built up not work out. Back on the first hand though, he was doing a little dance inside, now knowing that the two never slept together.

Rachel lifted her head so she could look at him, and Ross was surprised when he saw nothing but a tiny glimmer of regret in her eyes. "Surprisingly, I'm _fine_." She grinned at the last word, and Ross rolled his eyes.

"Yeah, yeah, let's never speak of that again," he said, finding it much easier to fall back into their normal conversation now that he knew she was no longer dating Joey. Man, what was _wrong_ with him? Think of Charlie, think of Charlie…

"It made me think back to when we got together," Rachel said suddenly, and Ross looked up quickly from staring at the counter in surprise. "Do you remember?"

"Remember? Sometimes I feel like it was yesterday," he confided. It was the truth; once in a while, he woke up in the morning and half-expected Rachel to be beside him. And, surprisingly, twice since they had broken up he actually _had _found Rachel next to him in bed.

Rachel seemed to be in a reminiscent mood, even thought the past was something she normally didn't dwell upon. "Remember when it was brand new? God, we acted like teenagers, I swear."

"Yeah," Ross nodded, "All that sneaking around so Monica wouldn't hear us in the apartment sort of added to the teenage fantasy. And I _have_ to mention the fact that when we first started dating, you laughed every time I tried to touch your butt."

Chuckling slightly, Rachel grinned. "Well, I'm sorry, but I had still been coming to grips with the fact that we were together. It wasn't my fault, I swear."

"Uh huh," Ross said with a smirk. "We don't seem to have that problem now, though."

"No, we're far beyond the laughing phase," Rachel agreed, and then stopped her giggles suddenly as they both realized what they were talking about.

Ross wasn't sure what to do. Oh, no, had they been flirting? Charlie, Charlie, not Rachel, Charlie…

Rachel cleared her throat and the moment was gone. She shrugged. "I guess everything happens for a reason, though. Us breaking up, I mean."

"Yeah, I, uh, guess so," Ross nodded.

Taking a noticeable breath, Rachel let her gaze travel the apartment, and when her eyes landed on Ross, he could tell she was looking past him. "Listen, Ross… there's something I've been wanting to talk to you about."

His hopes rising a little (Charlie…), Ross rested his head on both his hands so Rachel's face was a few inches above him. "Oh? What is it?"

"That… big blowout we had a while ago."

Ross had not been expecting this. "What about it?" he asked, rising so he was full height again.

"I wanted to apologize for yelling at you like that. Maybe if we had both just stayed calm and had talked it through… we could've worked it out."

"Rach, when have we ever been that adult about anything that had to do with us?" Ross questioned, and that got a smile out of her. "I'm sorry for acting like such a jackass, too. It's not like we had been in a relationship or anything."

Rachel turned her head slightly as she kept looking at him. "Yeah, you're right. I guess… we're just too good of friends for it to ever work out for us too, huh?"

Ross stared at her. What was she saying? He didn't understand where these introspective thoughts and questions were coming from; it was so unlike the normal Rachel he was used to. "Yeah. And, y'know, there were always people and things in the way too. Maybe that was a… sign, or something."

"When we were together though…" Rachel started, her eyes shimmering as her mind traveled to a distant place.

"It was good," Ross agreed with a nod, finding himself completely content to just watch her think. It scared him a little; this was a woman he hadn't dated in six years, and in that time, had never been able to work out a relationship with. He _had_ a girlfriend now, one who shared many likes and dislikes with him, one who seemed to be the perfect woman for him.

But couldn't it get a little boring if they had the same tastes? Didn't opposites attract, too? Of _course_ they did, just look at Monica and Chandler, or he and Rachel (when they had been together).

Rachel had an unreadable expression masking whatever she was actually feeling. "But I guess we were destined to just be… friends."

The words made Ross's insides hurt a little. "Yeah, I guess so… But y'know, for two people destined to be friends, we sure did a lot together," he added, unsure as to why he actually just said that out loud. He was unstoppable today! Somebody get a tranquilizer before he says or does something stupid! "We dated for a year, and uh, we were really good together. And we… got married-"

"Drunkenly in Vegas, but okay," Rachel interrupted, an eyebrow raised.

"Right, but we also had a baby," Ross pointed out. "That's… that's a lot of stuff for two people destined to just be good friends."

"I suppose… you're right," Rachel finally said, some sort of realization obviously dawning on her face as they locked gazes.

Ross kept his eyes on hers, not willing to look away. What was going on here? Rachel was giving him a small smile he hadn't been the receiver of in a really long time. But she had just broken up with Joey! And he had a girlfriend! What _was_ this!

Ross had never imagined he'd actually feel like he was in the middle of a dilemma between two beautiful women. Except for back when he had had to choose between Rachel and Julie. But that was a lifetime ago now anyway…

He finally let his hand rest on hers on top of the counter. Rachel glanced down at their hands and up into his face.

"Joey! I am going to _kill_ you!" Monica shouted from outside the apartment door, and Ross and Rachel jumped away from each other like magnets of the same polar. The dark-haired chef shoved the door open and began wildly eyeing the room. "Where is he?"

"Mon, what's going on?" Rachel asked.

"Joey ate two of the dishes I had made and put in our refrigerator marked 'Do Not Eat'! I don't have the recipe anymore for either of them! I was going to bring them into work and try to re-create them!" Monica was breathing more normally now. "He's dead."

Chandler waltzed into the apartment. "Ah, honey, there you are. I _thought_ that was your shrill yelling." He glanced between Ross and Rachel. "What's going on here? I haven't seen you two together in a room alone in months!"

Ross glared at his friend and shrugged. "I was just dropping Emma off." He walked over to the playpen to say goodbye to Emma as Chandler attempted to calm his wife down. "Bye sweetie, see you later," he said, kissing his daughter's forehead. "I love you."

He walked over to the kitchen area and nodded. "I've got, uh, somewhere to be."

"Oh, are you meeting Charlie? 'Cause Phoebe said she just saw her at the coffee house," Monica said.

Ross froze. Damnit, he had forgotten about meeting up with his girlfriend at Central Perk! "Right, yes, that's exactly where I'm going," he nodded. "See you later, guys." He sent a smile towards Rachel. "Uh, if you wanna talk…"

"I'll find you," she finished with a smile of her own, and Ross felt his insides melt.

She had been broken up with Joey for less than one day and already she was flirting with him. Did that mean she had never been serious about their mutual friend? Ross wasn't sure of anything anymore.

Well, except for the fact that he had a girlfriend. And he and Rachel together had been a disaster, despite all the good stuff they had reminisced about. Ross considered if maybe he should just give up on ever believing he and Rachel would be on-again (again) someday.

But as he closed the door, Ross couldn't help but wonder if he and Rachel really _were_ too good of friends to be together, or if the future had something else in store for them.

**XXX**

_End._


End file.
